Uarda : a Romance of Ancient Egypt — Volume 03 eBook

“Thou should’st know it,” cried
the dwarf, “for thou thyself hast forced him
to enormous expenses. He has won the people of
Thebes with dazzling festive displays; as guardian
of Apis

[When Apis (the sacred bull) died under
Ptolemy I. Soter, his keepers spent not only
the money which they had received for his maintenance,
in his obsequies but borrowed 50 talents of silver
from the king. In the time of Diodurus
100 talents were spent for the same purpose.]

he gave a large donation to Memphis; he bestowed thousands
on the leaders of the troops sent into Ethiopia, which
were equipped by him; what his spies cost him at,
the camp of the king, thou knowest. He has borrowed
sums of money from most of the rich men in the country,
and that is well, for so many creditors are so many
allies. The Regent is a bad debtor; but the
king Ani, they reckon, will be a grateful payer.”

Katuti looked at the dwarf in astonishment.
“You know men!” she said.

“To my sorrow!” replied Nemu. “Do
not apply to the Regent, and before thou dost sacrifice
the labor of years, and thy future greatness, and
that of those near to thee, sacrifice thy son’s
honor.”

“And my husband’s, and my own?”
exclaimed Katuti. “How can you know what
that is! Honor is a word that the slave may utter,
but whose meaning he can never comprehend; you rub
the weals that are raised on you by blows; to me every
finger pointed at me in scorn makes a wound like an
ashwood lance with a poisoned tip of brass. Oh
ye holy Gods! who can help us?”

The miserable woman pressed her hands over her eyes,
as if to shut out the sight of her own disgrace.
The dwarf looked at her compassionately, and said
in a changed tone:

“Dost thou remember the diamond which fell out
of Nefert’s handsomest ring? We hunted
for it, and could not find it. Next day, as I
was going through the room, I trod on something hard;
I stooped down and found the stone. What the
noble organ of sight, the eye, overlooked, the callous
despised sole of the foot found; and perhaps the small
slave, Nemu, who knows nothing of honor, may succeed
in finding a mode of escape which is not revealed
to the lofty soul of his mistress!”

“What are you thinking of?” asked Katuti.

“Escape,” answered the dwarf. “Is
it true that thy sister Setchem has visited thee,
and that you are reconciled?”

“She offered me her hand, and I took it?”

“Then go to her. Men are never more helpful
than after a reconciliation. The enmity they
have driven out, seems to leave as it were a freshly-healed
wound which must be touched with caution; and Setchem
is of thy own blood, and kind-hearted.”

“She is not rich,” replied Katuti.
“Every palm in her garden comes from her husband,
and belongs to her children.”